Student-centered – Pernille Ripp

authentic learning, being a teacher, being me, hopes, Reading, Reading Identity, Student Engagement, Student-centered, Virtual Learning, Writing Identity

Join Me in Our Patreon Community!

February 12, 2022 Pernille Ripp

For the past 12 years, I have shared everything I could think of on this blog, on social media, and working with other educators. Every lesson shared, every question answered, every request sent to me has connected me to so many of you; I have been so grateful for your support of me, the Global Read Aloud, and the work I do.

For 12 years, I have worked tirelessly to help create change in education, to try to lighten the load as much as possible, and to continue this important work. And while that work will continue it is time for it to eveolve a little bit to give you an opportunity for more direct interaction so today I have also launched my Patreon page.

What will this community entail?

It will give us a way to collaborate in a new way, where you don’t have to wait for your district or school to hire me or be able to attend an event, but instead allow you to reach out, get support, and work together in accessible ways. It also will allow me to continue the work of the Global Read Aloud in a sustainable way. In fact, one of the tiers is meant as a way to just support the GRA!

Being a member will offer you access to virtual sessions, curated monthly booklists, specific breakdown of lessons and units, access to some of my presentations, as well as personal brainstorming sessions with me if you so choose. There will also be exclusive content, early access to new resources, monthly Q&As, as well as other opportunities for connections. You can even snag me for an hour-long brainstorming session for you or a small group of people!

With this access, you will get a chance to really tailor our opportunity to work together. You can have specific support from month to month, help co-create units and get the support to create change in your unique situation.

I am excited to have an opportunity to interact more organically and also be available to you for any specific questions and needs you may have.

If you find value in my work or have benefitted from it in, then I welcome you to be a part of the community on Patreon where the learning, discussion, and collaboration will continue. If you can’t, don’t worry, this page will still exist with occasional updates and 12 years of materials.

6 Tiers of Support to Choose From

There are 6 different levels for you to choose from, they all offer unique experiences and ways to support this work. All monthly work will kick off March 1st but there are already resources there to explore and help you.

To become a patron, go here.

I have already published the first post and access to my curriculum map, with more content to come. I am excited for what this community will allow us to do and how we can grow together, so welcome!

Thank you for your continued support.

Best,

Pernille

Be the change, being a teacher, student choice, student driven, Student Engagement, student voice, Student-centered

Ideas for Helping Students Raise their Voice

February 24, 2018 Pernille Ripp

Student voice-PixTeller-204654.jpg

My mother raised me to raise my voice. She raised me to believe that my voice mattered. That speaking up when I saw injustice was a part of my civic duty. To not take my position of power within my white privilege for granted but to recognize it and share it with others.

My teachers taught me I was different.

That I was too loud. Too opinionated. Too much.

That I was the bad child to be avoided.

That I needed to learn how to tone it down.

Lower my voice.

Speak less.

Let others speak before I added my voice.

If it wasn’t for my mother’s insistence that my voice mattered, I would have been a silent child.

A silent adult.

As I see students speak up in the aftermath of yet another horrific school shooting, I cannot help but be proud. This is why I teach the way I do. This is why I believe that what we do matters.

When we create learning communities that thrive on discussion. That thrives on student voice. That tell those we teach to speak up rather than to stay silent, this is when we are truly changing the future of this world.

So what can we as teachers do to encourage student voice? How can we make sure the very children we teach know that their voice is needed for a better future?

Let them speak.

While it sounds so simple for many of us, it is not. Afterall, faced with curriculum deadlines, content standards, and all of the things we need to do, there are times that we forget that teaching is not meant to be a performance of one, but a chorus of many. In fact, research indicates that teachers speak more than 60-75 % of the time. That leaves very little time for those we teach to find their own voice. So monitor your own. Ask a question and step back or better yet, ask the students to ask the questions and guide them along the way. This doesn’t start as they get older, this starts as they enter school.

Teach them to question.

Questioning is one of the single most powerful skills we can pass on to students. And yes that also means questioning us. Provide opportunities for them to question what they see, let them know that they should be questioning what they are learning, and show them through example that it is fine to question you, the authority in the room. I would rather have students who dare to speak than those who remain silent. We discuss how to question authority with respect, but also that you should fight for what you believe in.

Make room for debate.

I know it is scary at times to be a teacher in a heated political climate, at times, I feel like whatever I say feels like a loaded question, and yet, we must find ways to bring hard topics into our classrooms and then step aside. I tell my students that I am not here to shape their opinion, I am here to give them an opportunity to shape their own. They know our discussions are not about what I want them to believe but instead about them coming up with something to believe in and then fact-checking it. It is not enough to have an opinion, you must realize where it stems from.

Ask, “Now what?”

My wise friend, Dana Stachowiak, taught me to always ask, “Now what?” when I believe in something. She reminds me that forming an opinion is not the point, but doing something about it and continuing to question is. So when students write persuasive essays, when students discuss, when students uncover new information, ask them, “Now what?” What do you plan on doing with the information? What else do you need to learn? What can you do with this belief that you have?

Show them change.

I survey my students throughout the year about how I can be a better teacher. It is one of the best things I do. And yes, there are criticisms every single time I read the surveys, things I could do better. Things they would like to see me improve. And so I try when I can and we discuss the changes needed for the experience to be better for all of us, me included. When students see an adult, who does not have to listen to their voice because let’s face it nothing says we have to, actually listen to them and implement change because of them, they see the power of having a voice in the first place. This is vital for them to believe that they can be changemakers.

Support don’t punish.

I have been appalled at the districts that are telling students they will be suspended if they protest. Have we forgotten that this very nation was founded on the notion of protest and speaking up when we saw a wrong? Why we would tell students, who we teach about inequality, about courage, about sacrifice, that they cannot exercise their right to free speech, blows my mind. So instead of saying no, find a way to support. Show them where they can go to protest, show them how to do it safely. Step up as leaders of this future generation rather than the oppressive older generation, a cliché that has been held on to for too many years.

Create deeper learning opportunities for all.

Last weekend, I had the amazing opportunity to read the final draft of Sara Ahmed’s book Being the Change, a book being released on March 29th by Heinemann. Sara’s book ignited my already present fire to create further opportunities for students to dissect their own identity, to push their own knowledge boundaries, and find a way to bring the world in as part of our curriculum. This book is a game changer and provides a blueprint for us to do more with what we already do. Centering on student identity and not the teacher’s this book gives us the needed tools to create classrooms that are focused on social comprehension without dictating a political path. I am thankful that this book will be out in the world soon for all of us.

Don’t forget our purpose.

Education is to better our world, not to create better test takers. Education is to create a new generation of literate adults who question the world around them, who uncover information, who seek to right the wrongs of this world. To help children become complex thinkers and problem solvers, who strive to make this world a better place not just for themselves but for a society as a whole. That is not a political sentiment, but a humanitarian one. We must continue to do better. We are teachers of the children who will write the history of this world, so what type of history would we like them to create? One that echoes the dystopian novels that sit in our classrooms, or one that continues to focus on better for all?

For the past weeks, my students have looked to me and the other adults in our building for answers more than ever before. I have been asked how I will keep them safe, what our plan is in case the unthinkable happens, how I feel about what is going on in the world. I have done the best I can to share my own thoughts without scaring them, without forcing my opinion on them. And yet, I keep thinking about all of the things we already do; how our job as educators was never to be the sole voice in the classroom, but instead to help our students raise theirs. So how do I plan on keeping them safe, by making sure that they know they can change the world.

If you like what you read here, consider reading my newest book, Passionate Readers – The Art of Reaching and Engaging Every Child, out August 2017. This book focuses on the five keys we can implement into any reading community to strengthen student reading experiences, even within the 45 minute English block. If you are looking for solutions and ideas for how to re-engage all of your students consider reading my very first book Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students. Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.

being a teacher, Literacy, Reading, Reading Identity, student choice, Student dreams, Student Engagement, student voice, Student-centered

In It For the Long Game

October 25, 2017 Pernille Ripp

It’s been four weeks since I have had a chance to discuss his reading one on one. Four weeks since he decided to abandon the first book he had started after he was only 60 pages in and it had been more than three weeks of reading every day. Four weeks since I got to have more than a surface level conversation about his reading life and I cannot wait to see what he says.

He tells me his goal is to read more, a goal I hear quite often in 7th grade. I ask him to tell me more, why this goal, how is it going. he grins and says, not so well, he really isn’t reading much.

I ask him about his book but that’s not it, he likes it a lot. Then what is it? He says, like so many kids before him, “I just don’t like to read…”

We finish our conversation and he pledges to try to find some time outside of class to get further. After all, he has yet to actually finish a book this year. I pledge to check in more often, even just a short visit, just to see if his new laid plans are working out.

He returns to his book and I return to the next child waiting to tell me about their reading life.

How often does this moment play out in our schools? How often have we met those kids that tell us that they just don’t like reading and we feel the end of the year rushing toward us as if we, too, will fail in helping these kids create positive reading identities?

How often do we question the very practices we know kids need to become readers; time, access, choice, and community?

How often do we feel like we must be the teachers that cannot crack the code of this child and that all is already lost?

But before we despair.

Before we punish.

Before we tighten the reins.

Before we add more steps, more logs, more comprehension worksheets.

Before we think of what else we need to keep them accountable.

Take a moment and realize that we are in this for the long game.

That a child not liking reading even after we have been their teacher for almost two months does not mean that we have failed. It does not mean that they have failed either.

It means that we are working on it.

That we celebrate the honesty when a child dares to tell us that they don’t like reading, and no, they are not reading outside of school.

That we thank them for the information and then ask them what they plan on doing with it.

That we remind them that reading matters and that we hope that they will find a way to make it matter to them.

We are not in this reading game to get them reading just this year. We are in it to get them reading for life.

So before we change the approach of giving kids choice in books, time to read, access to books, and a community to read with, remember to have some patience.

Patience to remember that creating new habits takes time.

Patience to remember that it often takes many books to see yourself as an established reader.

Patience to remember that it often takes many conversations, many opportunities, many check-ins and walk-aways to really help a child find themselves as a reader.

And then when we question our own practices that we thought would work for every child, we remember that we may be up against years of unestablished reading habits and that just a few short months with us is not enough. That sometimes we are just the tourniquet that stops the flow of hatred of reading and that it won’t be until later years that a child finds themselves within the pages of a book and cannot imagine coming back out.

So give yourself credit for the successes you see in your reading communities. Give yourself credit for the books being shared. For the joy being created. And give yourself credit for having unlimited patience, especially for the child that tells you once again that they just don’t like reading. Not yet, anyway.

being a teacher, fun, Literacy, Reading, Reading Identity, Student dreams, Student Engagement, Student-centered

On the Need to Plan for Reading Enjoyment

July 14, 2017July 14, 2017 Pernille Ripp

A question I receive often is what do you teach? Meaning what reading skills do I get to explore with my 7th graders in our English block? And how do I cover it all? I get it, teaching English Language Arts in the forty-five-minute block is daunting. We feel like we are behind on the second day of school. (Incidentally, this is what prompted me to write Passionate Readers because I figured I could not be alone in trying to deal with the madness). And yet, while I gladly share what we do as I try to help my students become better readers, there seems to be a missing part in this curriculum conversation; the need to plan for reading enjoyment.

Why does this matter? Because our assumptions about what we can do to kids’ reading lives through our well-meaning intentions are wrong. We have assumed for too long that kids will just like reading, no matter what we do to them in class. No matter the task we assign them. No matter how we teach and what we discuss. And yet, the numbers don’t lie… As kids get older, reading for fun decreases and with it outside reading. We all know where this goes, by the time kids leave our classrooms and become the adults we have hoped to shape, many of them; 26% to be exact, choose to not read a single book for the next twelve months. And we know this, we see it in our classrooms every single year; those kids that come in and sigh, that pick up a random book, that look us in the eyes and tell us proudly that they will never like reading no matter what we do. It seems, in our eagerness to create amazing readers, we have lost sight of the end game; people who actually want to read once they leave our schools.

The decisions we make today, as we plan for the year ahead, or for the next day’s lesson, matters more than we know. Yes, kids need reading skills, of course, but we also must plan specifically for protecting the hope of reading. For protecting the positive reading identities that are already present in our school communities, for investigating and hopefully changing the negative reading identities.

But this won’t happen just by happenstance. Joyful reading experiences don’t just happen magically even if we provide choice, time, and plenty of great books. We must strive to make it fun. To create meaningful opportunities to interact with others through the books we read. To abandon the books that do not work for us, even the ones we rank a seven or an eight. To read picture books aloud not just for teaching the skill but for creating a community, for laughing together. For speaking books with one another. For reading aloud. For finding time to slow down so we can savor what we read, rather than just to get through it.

And don’t take my word for it, here is just some of the research of the benefits of focusing on reading enjoyment from The National Literacy Trust.

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We may lament the amount of time we have in our classrooms. We may worry that we will never get “it” done. That we are not enough or that what we are doing is not the right thing. But we must not forget how much we do control in our limited time with students; how many decisions we do get to make. One of those has to be what we are going to do to protect the love of reading. How will we make reading fun again and then stand proudly behind our decisions? So next time you plan a lesson or have a curriculum discussion, ask yourself this; will there be enjoyment in this? Will the very students we are teaching find this fun? And if not, why not? What can you do to change? Our classrooms were never meant to be the place where reading came to die, they were meant to be places filled with reading explorations. What will we do to change the very experience we have with our students?

Our classrooms were never meant to be the place where reading came to die, they were meant to be places filled with reading explorations. What will we do to change the very experience we have with our students?

being a teacher, Book Clubs, Literacy, Reading, student choice, student driven, Student Engagement, student voice, Student-centered, Student-Led

Ideas For How to Do Better Book Clubs in Middle School

April 10, 2017April 10, 2017 Pernille Ripp

In 2015, I wrote a post discussing how I was doing book clubs with my 7th graders and how their ideas had shaped our process to be more powerful. Two years later, I look at some of those ideas and see how my thinking has changed and also how much more ownership the student shave taken. I, therefore, decided to update that post with what it looks like now.

I knew when I moved to 7th grade that book clubs would be one of the things that moved with me. That shared reading experience where students would get to just read and discuss is something I have loved having in the classroom the past few years. I knew it would be a different experience in the middle school classroom, after all , heir maturity would push their thinking, what I had not accounted for was also how my whole approach to the purpose of it would need to change to cater to a more critical mindset. So what do book clubs in the middle school classroom need to be successful?

Then:

An honest conversation. I would not have gotten student buy in if I had not had an honest conversation with them beforehand. They needed a chance to vent all of their frustrations with book clubs in order to see how this time around they might be different. They needed to know that their thoughts and yes, feelings, were validated and considered. While most would have invested themselves in the process simply because it was expected, I didn’t want that type of buy-in, I wanted a genuine desire to use this for good, to enjoy the 4 weeks or so it would last.

Now:

This is still how we start our book club explorations. This one-day conversation is all about figuring out what they love, what they don’t, and how to make sure that they understand the bigger idea behind book clubs; having great conversations about a fascinating text. This is, therefore, the first thing that happens as we embark on that adventure, after this, the kids start to figure out who they would like to have a book club with.

Then:

Choice in books. I know it is easier to have a few pre-selected books for students to choose from so we can help facilitate the conversations, but with more than 100 students to cater to I knew I needed choice and lots of it. With the help of my amazing library team, bonus points from Scholastic, and the phenomenal Books4school, I was able to present the students with more than 50 different choices for titles. This way no group needed to share books and all students should be able to find something to agree on. I also told them that if they couldn’t find anything, to let me know, we would find the right book for them.

Now:

This still holds true – the students all get to select their books and I now have more than 70 titles for them to choose from. There is no overlaying theme between all of the books, although most, if not all, have a theme of perseverance. This year, I have also added in some nonfiction titles and am thinking of adding more. One thing that has helped me is by reading all of the books that I have as choices. That way I know whether they actually have great things to discuss or not. I also have this many books because I think it is important that the students can bring their books out of class, that way they can stay on track with the pages they need to read without worrying about access to the book. Finally, one teacher shared the idea of having kids read individual books and then grouping by theme. I find this to be a fascinating idea and may play with this next year.

Then:

Choice in who they read with. Working with adolescents have made it crystal clear to me just how vulnerable they feel in these developing years and how much they value when their input is used to determine groupings. So students are grouped together using some of their data, but also who they would like to read with and why.

Now:

I am adding an interview component to the process, as some kids do not realize how different their reading preferences, abilities, or ideas are from some of their closest friends. This year they will, therefore, fill out this inventory and then interview potential people for their book clubs. They will then hand in their sheet to me and I will group them together as best as I can to their preferences, but also including kids who may otherwise be left out. For the first time ever, inspired by the idea of Kelly, one of our amazing special ed teachers, a few kids will also be given the choice of whether they want to do a book club with a chapter book or picture books that have to do with perseverance.

Then:

Choice of rules. While I may have an idea for how a book club should function, I needed student ownership over the reading, as well as how their discussions would unfold. All groups decided their own rules and posted them on the wall. It has been powerful to see them guide their conversations, and yes, also dole out consequences to members within their groups that have not read or are not participating.

Now:

I no longer have students post their rules, instead they just share them with me and I do periodical check ins.

Then:

Choice in speed. All of my groups read at different paces, so they determine how many pages a night they need to read as well as when they would like to have the book finished by within our 4-week time frame. One group, in fact, has already finished a book.

Now:

We now reserve three weeks for book club time, I ask them to pace it out so they finish with two or so days left of those three weeks. They create a reading calendar and it gets glued into their reader’s notebooks.

Then:

Choice in conversation. Book clubs should not function around the teacher, in fact, I have noticed that when I do listen in to an otherwise lively conversation the students immediately get timid in most cases. I have learned to listen from a distance and only offer up solid small ideas to push their conversation further when they really needed it. Too often our mere presence will hijack a group and students don’t learn to trust their own opinions and analysis. Removing yourself from the process means students have to figure it out. For those groups that struggle we talk about in our private mini-lesson.

Now:

While I still have students run their conversations, I do give them ideas of what to discuss in their book clubs so that they have a starting point. They are also given an individual project to work on with their book (figuring out the theme and other literary elements) and so I tell them that they can use each other to help with finding the signposts (from Notice and Note) and what they mean. This year, I will also be listening in to their discussion once a week and take some notes on what and how they are discussing hoping to work with them on their discussion skills.

Then:

Choice in abandonment. I do not want students stuck with a book they hate, so some groups chose to abandon their books within a week and made a better choice. Rather than think of it as lost reading time, I cheered over the fact that my students know themselves as readers. All of my students are now reading a book that they at the very least like and that is an accomplishment in my eyes.

Now:

This still stands, except they now have to abandon it within three days. I will also let students switch groups within the first week if they hate the book or the group dynamics do not work. They, then, have to make up for lost time in the reading of their pages.

Then:

Choice in length and meeting time. Students are allotted time every other day to meet in their book clubs and have 28 minutes to discuss and read some more. While I have told student to try to push their conversations, I have also urged them to keep them under 10 minutes unless they are having a great discussion. Students vary the length of their book clubs depending on what their self-chosen topic of discussion is and figure out how their group works best in the process.

Now:

Students are still given time every day to either read or discuss, they need to discuss every third day for sure and they can decide how long they want their discussions to last. I do a quick check-in with them after their discussion to see how they did and how productive it was.

Then:

Choice in final product. While our true purpose of having book clubs is to have a shared reading experience, I am also asking the students to do a book talk of some sort when they finish. There are two reasons behind this; to assess the standards we are covering in the quarter but also for them to develop their critical thinking skills. If the book they read is not suited for future book clubs then I need to know why. I don’t want students to have a lengthy project because that is not what book clubs are about.

Now:

We no longer do the book talk, it didn’t work, it was too loose and the kids didn’t buy into it. We now have two separate projects – an individual one and a group one. The individual one is for the students to hand in a literary analysis of their book discussing the theme and the development of one of the main characters. This is a typed paper, less than a page, that they hand in a week after book clubs end. The group project is the 12-word book summary , detailed here. They get two days in class to work on it.

While my method for integrating book clubs may seem loose at best, I have found incredible buy-in from the students. They have been excited to read their books, they have been excited to share their thoughts, and the accountability that they feel toward one another is something I would not be able to produce through force. Middle schoolers need a framework to grow within, they need our purposes to be authentic as much as possible, and they need to have a voice in how things function within our classroom. Book clubs offer us a way to have these moments in reading that abound with deep reading conversations that I may not be able to have as a whole group, they allow even the quietest student to have a voice. They allow students to feel validated in their thoughts and they allow them to share their knowledge with each other. What have you done to create successful book clubs?

If you like what you read here, consider reading any of my books; the newest called Reimagining Literacy Through Global Collaboration, a how-to guide for those who would like to infuse global collaboration into their curriculum, was just released. I am currently working on a new literacy book, called Passionate Readers and it will be published in the summer of 2017 by Routledge.If you are looking for solutions and ideas for how to re-engage all of your students consider reading my very first book Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students. Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.

being a teacher, Literacy, Reading, Reading Identity, student choice, Student dreams, student driven, Student Engagement, student voice, Student-centered

The Reading Identity Challenge

February 25, 2017February 27, 2017 Pernille Ripp

At the beginning of the year, I asked my students to tell me how they felt about reading. I do this every year as it offers me a baseline, a glimpse into their reading truths. I was not surprised at the results, 25% told me they loved it, 50% told me they didn’t mind it, and the final 25%? They told me they hated it. Perhaps slightly higher than normal, but nevertheless, teaching 7th graders, I was not worried. After all, every year it seems this happens and every year, children change their minds.

This year, though, some have proven to be stubborn. Those kids that hate reading, they still were fighting me every step of the way. Abandoning books, which we do embrace, every single day. Refusing to book shop even. Flipping pages aimlessly day in and day out. Not having any desire to change their hatred, content with being part of the statistics of kids that don’t read.

So I created the Student Reading Identity Challenge. Not just for the kids who still hated reading, but for those that needed a spark, those that needed to stretch their reading legs a little. For myself to challenge my own reading life, nervously glancing at Hatchet and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry as two books I had no desire to read but knew I should.

A reading challenge for us all, so we all could get better, whatever better meant to us. The concept is simple; over the course of three weeks or so students would select one aspect of their personal reading life and challenge themselves to make it better or change it. Much like a personal goal; there was no right challenge, instead, it was based on the individual’s needs, the hopes for the future. There was no limit to what they could work on and they would be given around twenty minutes every day to read, rather than our usual ten.

We started with this five-page survey; yes, five pages. I needed students in all their stages of reading relationship to uncover new truths about themselves. It needed to go beyond whether they liked to read or not and into their actual reading habits. Where are they reading, what are they reading, why are they not reading more? Where are their book gaps? Where do they get book recommendations from? All those little things that play into who they are as a reader. It took the kids almost two days to fill it out because I asked them to please slow down, please really think about it, and then show your goal to me.

The goals varied; I want to enjoy reading again, I want to try a new genre, I want to read every day. Some couldn’t think of one until we looked through all of their answers and something jumped out at us. Whatever the goal was there was a reason, a personal one, that this was the one thing they felt would help them become a better reader. Some kids even chose a read aloud with another teacher so they could have a shared experience around a book, trying to help them actually like reading more. For every goal there was a story; a story of reading blossomed or reading gone wrong. For every goal there was either excitement or reprehension; how would this actually change anything? Once all the goals were in place, I asked the kids to somehow keep track – how will you know you are working on your goal? Some chose a calendar to write down minutes or rank their reading of the day, some chose a peer to speak about their reading. This is the one component I am still working on, I did not want it to be a writing experience, one where the students would have to jot down their thoughts every day, but instead, an organic process for them that helped them have a great experience, not one more thing to do.

So we began; some kids book shopped the first few days, having to find a great book as part of their goal as well, others dove right in. I taught a mini-lesson every day and then the rest of the time was for them to read. I pulled small groups, conferred with students, and otherwise watched. Were they actually reading? Was this actually working…

One child told me she was so confused in her fantasy book and this was exactly why she never read fantasy because “It doesn’t make any sense!” and yet because of the challenge she read on, declaring at the end of the book that she couldn’t wait for the sequel. Another told me she was stuck in the boring part and this was always when she abandoned a book, but now because of the challenge, she read on. A child who has yet to read a single book this year, no matter my support, is on page 60 of Hatchet, telling me yesterday that he read 20 pages in one day.

Whatever their goal, I saw it gradually start to happen; kids finding a way to make reading better for themselves. Kids realizing more deeply who they are as readers, where they are on their reading journey. For some, it has proven to be a huge revelation, for others just a small one. But for most, it has changed something in them as a reader. For most, there is a deeper urge to make reading enjoyable, no matter what they are reading.

So yesterday, I taught my first two classes, followed my lesson plan to the tee. But in my 5th hour, the students asked if they could please read for ten minutes today, knowing I had only allocated ten. Of course, I said. When the fifteen were up, they asked for five more minutes. Of course, I said. When the five were up they asked if they could please just read the rest of the class. As twenty-five students stared at me, seemingly holding their breath, I said, “Of course.” And then watched the thickest of silences fall over the room as they each retreated into their books. Even the ones who tell me they hate reading. Even the ones who used to flip pages. I did the same for the rest of my classes, and it didn’t change; silence, except for the pages being turned, and one child telling me triumphantly that they had read fifteen pages today – more than they read all of last week.

The reading identity challenge is not the end all be all, but it is another step in helping students uncover another aspect of who they are as readers. It is another tool to help them become empowered in their own reading journey. It is another step to tell all of my students that reading matters and that they control so much of their relationship with reading. That new genres await, that it is possible for reading to be fun, that they can make it through the boring parts, that they can go deeper in their text. That reading should be a part of who they are and therefore also should be something they mold and shape as they develop further.

As for me? It turns out that Hatchet and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry were amazing books. That I have realized that perhaps I should be looking at other classic children’s book gaps to make sure I am able to recommend them to kids. That even though I love reading, I still have things to work on. Just like my students, just like we all do.

PS: Here is the reflection sheet I had them fill out at the end. The standard referenced is one that measures providing evidence for their thoughts.

If you like what you read here, consider reading any of my books; the newest called Reimagining Literacy Through Global Collaboration, a how-to guide for those who would like infuse global collaboration into their curriculum, was just released. If you are looking for solutions and ideas for how to re-engage all of your students consider reading my very first book Passionate Learners – How to Engage and Empower Your Students. I am currently working on a new literacy book, called Passionate Readers and it will be published in the summer of 2017 by Routledge. I also have a new book coming out December, 2017 . Also, if you are wondering where I will be in the coming year or would like to have me speak, please see this page.